A growing global demand for critical minerals is driving a corresponding need for people with mining industry expertise, and Laurentian University wants to be ready to meet it.
Colloquially known as “Canada’s mining university,” Laurentian has long been known for its quality mining programming, which includes undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as its industry research and innovation, professional development training, and collaboration with the city’s extensive mining cluster.
Now, the Sudbury institution is launching a five-year Critical Minerals and Mining Strategy, part of a greater strategic planning effort in setting a new direction for the school as it rebuilds following its 2022 exit from insolvency.
Nadia Mykytczuk, executive director of Laurentian’s Goodman School of Mines, said Laurentian is uniquely positioned for this task.
“We're one of the only universities in Canada that has education, training and research across the entire mining life cycle,” she said. “So that includes geology, exploration, mining engineering, management, Indigenous engagement, environment, health and safety, critical thinking and ethics.
“The world is changing very rapidly, and given that Laurentian is setting new strategic areas and plans, we wanted to realign our mining strategy.”
Critical minerals are a hot topic right now. The federal and provincial governments each launched their own critical minerals strategy in 2022. Legislation like Ontario’s One Project, One Process framework was introduced to speed up the pace of critical minerals developments.
That’s because it’s expected demand for critical minerals — nickel, copper, lithium, platinum group metals and more — will continue to rise as countries around the world push to implement technology supporting electric vehicles, medical devices, defence applications, and more.
Sudbury, considered to have North America’s highest concentration of mining expertise, is home to nine operating mines, two mills, two smelters and a nickel refinery.
There are also more than 300 mining supply firms employing more than 14,000 people and generating approximately $4 billion in annual exports.
The story of Sudbury’s environmental recovery, following years of pollution in the early mining years, is globally renowned and serves as a model for other jurisdictions.
Mykytczuk, who also serves as president and CEO of Sudbury's Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation, and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO), believes that, in collaboration with partners, Laurentian can build on its wide range of expertise to really zero in on the industry’s current and future needs.
“We, of course, have been hearing a lot about critical minerals and mining right now, provincially, federally and globally,” Mykytczuk said, “and it really is Laurentian’s purview to look at how we build programs, offer training, do experiential learning and research to respond to, and be proactive about, the new areas of funding and programs that are coming out from government, from industry, and in communities like Sudbury that are have so much mining activity all throughout the supply chain.”
Over the last 18 months, Goodman School of Mines has taken the lead on this project, getting feedback from various stakeholders through roundtable discussions, surveys and other consultation efforts.
Input will be assessed over the winter months and Mykytcuzk said the completed strategy will be presented during the 2026 conference of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), scheduled to take place in Toronto in early March.